How to Be More Vocal and Take Better Initiative as an Intern

Hello, everyone! My name is Quyen Truong and I am a senior owl majoring in Advertising. With a focus in Art Direction, I was on the hunt for a work experience that would help enhance my design skills, which is how I ended up at Mole Street.

Mole Street is an experiential and digital marketing agency based in Philadelphia. It focuses on building innovative live events and a strong digital presence for clients. Through my journey of being a Mole, not only was my passion for creativity fueled, but I also learned how to be more vocal and take better initiative as an intern. With the help of Mole Street’s encouraging environment and hunger for growth, it really pushed me to enhance these traits and take charge in molding my experience as their Graphic Design Intern.

As an intern, it is important and beneficial for you to voice your ideas and have strong communication skills. Not only does this help you develop confidence as an upcoming professional, it would help grow the company you are working at and take it to the next level.

If you consider yourself as someone who is not the best with words, I can relate. Especially when it comes to speaking to a leading professional or head at your company, it is quite intimidating. However, in order to develop your communication skills, you have to start somewhere. Here are a few tips I would love to share with you that I picked up as a Mole on how to be more vocal:

1. Voice your ideas
There is no such thing as a wild idea. If you have ideas for certain tactics or elements the company can experiment with, do not be afraid to voice them. It does not necessarily mean the company will accept it, but it is always worth a shot. Here is one way you can approach your employer about your ideas with confidence:

“I have been brainstorming about ______ and a few ideas came to mind. Do you have a moment for us to discuss? I would love to share them with you!”

2. Voice your suggestions
If you have suggestions on better solutions or approaches for your company, voice it. Doses of constructive criticism here and there are healthy, because they help shape any idea into its best form. With Mole Street being a smaller agency, its ears are always listening for advice on improvement. Here is how I usually phrase my constructive criticism:

“This is an interesting approach/solution, but just an idea to throw out there, have you considered ______? What if we did this?”

3. Are you hungry for a challenge? Voice it.
It is okay to want more experience. If you think you are ready to take on more challenging tasks and can handle it, ask for the opportunity. See if there are existing projects you can step foot in or if there is a potential one you can propose. Here is one way you can approach your employers about it:

“After thoroughly enjoying the last project, I realized I would like to continue to grow my skills. Are there some opportunities for me to take on some additional, more challenging projects?”

For example, Mole Street has been working on building their blogs that are loaded with digital marketing content. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for using design to make the information more digestible for viewers. After approaching my coworker and boss, creating blog graphics became an additional project I got to take on. Below are examples of ones I made:

I hope you found these tips helpful! It is important to take charge in molding each of your experiences to ensure you are getting the most out of them. Thank you for reading and good luck.